HOBOKEN– 19 trees could be removed throughout the length of Washington Street due to the Washington Street Redesign. Last week, concerned residents taped signs to the trees to let others know.
The $17.5 million project, approved by an 8-1 council vote in 2016, will replace old water mains, add safety features like bump outs, timed pedestrian crossing signals, ADA compliant ramps, and repave the patched and pothole covered road.
According to city spokesman Juan Melli, “Three trees have been removed and 16 more are planned to be removed due to utility conflicts such as drainage improvements.”
Last week Councilman and mayoral candidate Michael DeFusco called for a special meeting of the council in a press release to discuss the construction.
“Businesses are suffering, quality of life is being disrupted, and most alarmingly there is irreversible damage being done to our city’s character in the removal of trees and destruction of a historic bluestone sidewalk in front of City Hall,” wrote DeFusco.
“These two issues were never discussed during the long deliberations about this project, meaning that they were either overlooked or intentionally concealed by the administration,” added DeFusco in the release. “Either way, it’s now clear that we need an open public meeting to discuss these concerns and look for a solution that will repair Washington Street without further harming our city’s historic features or our environment.”
According to Melli the city is trying to save or replant existing trees when possible.
Melli said the project engineer is doing an evaluation to determine if possible drainage alternatives would result in keeping some or all of the trees and that “no more trees will be removed until the city has reviewed the engineers report.”
For more information, look for this weekend’s edition of the Hoboken Reporter.
